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Kamis, 16 Juni 2016
Senin, 06 Juni 2016
Part I of Aquaponics in New England discusses how aquaponics can supplement the offerings of traditional farming and fishing where they have limits. A PDF of the entire paper (Parts I-III) can be downloaded here, including a full list of sources referenced by footnotes.
Supplement Traditional Farming & Fishing
Supplement Traditional Farming & Fishing
First, it is important to understand the current state of agricultural affairs in Massachusetts. After a precipitous decline in the 1960s, the number of farms in the state is now on the rise (see Figure 1). As of 2008, the state had more than 7,700 farms (including aquaculture and nurseries).1 Many of these farms have hit on effective and profitable strategies, such as Community Supported Agriculture, farmers markets, and/or organic certification. The growth is fueled significantly by organic agriculture. Between 1997 and 2008, the number of farms in Massachusetts increased 28% while the number of organic farms increased over 3,000% (from 3 to 103).1
Traditional Farming
Despite the growth, traditional farming has limits in Massachusetts. Whether organic or not, traditional farms have a limited growing season. Many cold hardy species...
Read more »Sabtu, 30 April 2016
**NOTE** This strawberry cage didnt actually do much to deter the squirrels. The holes in the woven wire fence seem to be too big, or our squirrels are too small. But please!...read on for an epic adventure in cage making nonetheless.
One of the more important tasks on a homestead is defense against destructive marauders, those pests that pass through a homestead, wreck a bunch of stuff, then move on to the next victim. Appropriately enough, if the homestead contains a Dad, the task of critter defense usually finds its way onto his to-do list. So, this post is a happy fathers day tribute to those dads who tirelessly defend their castle against livestock-eating predators, driveway-destroying burrowers, and crop-destroying varmints.
Earlier this spring, we noticed that our strawberry patch was coming along nicely--the plants were lush, green, and full of flowers, followed shortly by green and increasingly large berries. In short, the type of stuff homesteaders dream about all winter and spring. Then, one day, almost all of the berries (without even a hint of red), were gone. We were shocked and angry. And although we were anticipating a perpetual battle with the neighborhood varmints, we knew this meant that the squirrels had struck the first blow.
What to do? Having not yet perfected our squirrel flinger design and with the everbearing plants already on their second crop of flowers, we needed something quick. Something that could be built in a couple hours while a frying pan of delicious root crops with rosemary graced the wood-fired grill on a Saturday evening. And thus was born the quick and dirty strawberry cage.
How do you protect your berries from destructive marauders? How would you do it if your strawberry patch was a lot larger (which we eventually hope ours will be)? Let us know in the comments section below!
Read More..
One of the more important tasks on a homestead is defense against destructive marauders, those pests that pass through a homestead, wreck a bunch of stuff, then move on to the next victim. Appropriately enough, if the homestead contains a Dad, the task of critter defense usually finds its way onto his to-do list. So, this post is a happy fathers day tribute to those dads who tirelessly defend their castle against livestock-eating predators, driveway-destroying burrowers, and crop-destroying varmints.
Earlier this spring, we noticed that our strawberry patch was coming along nicely--the plants were lush, green, and full of flowers, followed shortly by green and increasingly large berries. In short, the type of stuff homesteaders dream about all winter and spring. Then, one day, almost all of the berries (without even a hint of red), were gone. We were shocked and angry. And although we were anticipating a perpetual battle with the neighborhood varmints, we knew this meant that the squirrels had struck the first blow.
What to do? Having not yet perfected our squirrel flinger design and with the everbearing plants already on their second crop of flowers, we needed something quick. Something that could be built in a couple hours while a frying pan of delicious root crops with rosemary graced the wood-fired grill on a Saturday evening. And thus was born the quick and dirty strawberry cage.
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| The damage. The berries, all but one plucked from their stalks. What kind of monster would do such a thing? They were just babies! |
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| We constructed a 2 x 4 frame from free Craigslist wood to fit around the strawberry bed, then drilled holes just large enough to fit the wires of a welded wire fence (5/64") at the required spacing. We figured out the spacing by holding the fence on the board and drilling next to the wires. The wires are a little flexible, so it doesnt have to be perfect. Remember, this is a quick and dirty project! Also, it takes some care to not break off the drill bit, and its probably a good idea to have an extra (or two or three) handy. |
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| Same thing with the wire fencing on the ends, which are trimmed to wrap around the arced part. The most tedious part is getting all the wires to line up in the holes of the frame, but once they do, the slight variations in angle make it surprisingly sturdy. i.e., dont use a drill press! :-) Ours can actually support the weight of the frame just from the wire cage (which also probably means a squirrel wont be able to pull out the wires, either), but we made handles for extra support. The handles are just more pieces of 2 x 4, screwed into the frame at an appropriate spacing. Theres one on each end, partly because the frame is large and awkward to move with one person, but also partly because we dont trust each other to not eat all of the strawberries as soon as they turn ripe. Come to think of it, we didnt actually see a squirrel in the strawberries, we just assumed it had been there because the berries were gone. It could just as easily have been Katie! There are no droppings to confirm one species or the other. Now it seems like the cage is an even better idea. |
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| Here are the strawberries, now fully protected. Where the sections of fence come together, we "sewed" them together with one of the wires we trimmed off the fence. |
How do you protect your berries from destructive marauders? How would you do it if your strawberry patch was a lot larger (which we eventually hope ours will be)? Let us know in the comments section below!
Kamis, 21 April 2016
Every weekend i used to build something like a DIY, sometimes furniture or sometimes toys. And then on day Chaitanya mailed me a video of a small DIY aquaponics system that was interesting. The following weekend I jumped into action... and set up my first aquaponics unit which was a NFT system.
I already had a 500 liter water tank that was used as a raised pond of sorts, with gold fish, koi, sword tail and a few guppies.
The plan was to create a NFT frame work next to the tank and pump the water from the FT to the pvc pipes. For the drain to to flow back into the FT i raised the pipes above the FT.
A full saturday of shopping at the hardware store, cutting drilling and assembly.
Here i primarily used 4 inch pvc pipe and drilled 2 inch holes. I used some tank valve and some 0.75 inch pipes to create the drain.
I then used some plastic cups i had, drilled a few holes in the bottom and just placed it in the holes.
I had some aqua clay left over from my aquarium that was decommissioned a few weeks before this build, so i used the aqua clay to fill the cups. I then hooked up the water connection and planted the seeds directly into the cups. And 10 days later .... it starts to sprout.
I already had a 500 liter water tank that was used as a raised pond of sorts, with gold fish, koi, sword tail and a few guppies.
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| The fish tank or raised pond with fish and water lilly |
A full saturday of shopping at the hardware store, cutting drilling and assembly.
Here i primarily used 4 inch pvc pipe and drilled 2 inch holes. I used some tank valve and some 0.75 inch pipes to create the drain.
I then used some plastic cups i had, drilled a few holes in the bottom and just placed it in the holes.
I had some aqua clay left over from my aquarium that was decommissioned a few weeks before this build, so i used the aqua clay to fill the cups. I then hooked up the water connection and planted the seeds directly into the cups. And 10 days later .... it starts to sprout.
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